


Warrior's Work

by Melina



Category: Temeraire - Fandom
Genre: Gen, His Majesty's Dragon, Yuletide, battle of the nile, minor characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-24
Updated: 2006-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-02 00:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melina/pseuds/Melina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1798, Jane Roland and Excidium fight at the Battle of the Nile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warrior's Work

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Yuletide 2006.
> 
> Thanks to Killa and hafital for the beta reading and (as always) sound advice.

_August 1, 1798  
The Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Africa_

"Captain Roland! Are you coming?" came a shout from the port side of the dragon transport.

Jane scowled at him, not deigning to reply, and turned back to the rail.

"Of course she's not coming, you fool," she overheard Sutton tell the younger officer. "What do you think, she can go unnoticed in the company of a flock of naval officers?"

No, indeed, she could not. Jane would receive her briefing from Admiral Lenton -- along with the first lieutenants -- when Lenton and the other captains returned from Nelson's briefing aboard the flagship, _Vanguard_.

She tapped her fingers against the rail as she watched the launch depart. At least this day or the next would finally bring battle -- the past months had been filled with little besides the tedious routine of patrolling. In the humidity of the late spring and summer, Nelson's ships had sailed back and forth across the Mediterranean, chasing the French fleet. The larger dragons flew patrols to protect the British ships, while the scouts flew reconnaissance missions in search of the French.

One of the scouts had finally been successful. Captain James and Volatilus had brought word only hours earlier that the entirety of the French fleet was right where Nelson had guessed -- in Aboukir Bay, near Alexandria, Egypt. James reported Brueys's fleet waited in shallow water with seventeen ships. He couldn't be certain of the number of French dragons, but he estimated somewhere between ten and fifteen, based on the patrols he had seen.

They were almost certainly outnumbered, Jane thought. The British had thirteen ships and twelve combat dragons, four of which belonged to their Turkish allies. Two of the Turkish dragons were the impressive fire-breathing Kaziliks, along with two Alamans, lightweight skirmishers who flew in support of the Kaziliks.

But Excidium, by the luck of battle, was the only heavyweight on the British side. Captain St. Germain and her Longwing formation should have been with them, but she was still recovering from a wound taken at Toulon. Jane wished for the older woman's steady presence.

The thump of a tail against the deck shook Jane from her thoughts -- as well as causing some nearby sailors to jump -- and she smiled as she walked toward Excidium.

"Hello, my friend," she called as she approached. She sat on the deck beside him, tucking her legs underneath her as she reached out to stroke his head.

He lifted an eyelid, pretending he hadn't been seeking her attention. "Oh, hello, Jane," he said as he shifted position, yawning. "Is there any news?"

"Nothing since Volly. Soon, I think. Once the admiral returns, we'll know what's to happen."

"You are worried. I can tell," Excidium said, tilting his head back until his eyes met hers.

"Nonsense," she said, a trifle more tartly than she had intended. Of course she was worried. They were outnumbered, going into battle with only rough intelligence, and she had never led a formation into battle in a heavy-fleet action like this one. She'd only flown in one such battle before, and most of her memories surrounding the event were of the chaos, the smoke, and the difficulty of keeping the formation together and telling friend from foe at anything but the closest distance. It was far different from an attack by or against a few ships, or a purely aerial engagement. Even with Lenton in command of the formation, Excidium would be the lead dragon, and many of the immediate tactical decisions would likely fall to her.

Excidium lifted an eyebrow, his eyes filled with skepticism. "Hmm. Yes." He watched her for a moment. "Have you finished that letter to Emily?"

"What?" Jane's mind was wandering, distracted from thoughts of battle tactics.

He repeated patiently, "Emily. You were writing her a letter?"

"Oh," Jane recalled. "Yes, I was. No, I haven't. I've run plum out of any stories to tell that a three-year-old might fancy."

"Well, perhaps you should finish," Excidium suggested. "Did you tell her about the pod of dolphins we saw yesterday?"

Jane knew exactly what the wily old dragon was doing, and smiled, patting him on the chest as she stood. "Very well, I shall try to finish my letter before Admiral Lenton returns."

"Yes," Excidium said as he put his head back down, curling his tail around him. "Perhaps you should do that, Jane. An excellent idea."

~~~~~

Jane smiled as she folded the letter, sealing it with wax. As Excidium had intended, writing the letter had engaged and distracted her. It was as merry as she could make it, filled with tales of Malta and Sicily and dolphins at sea. It pleased her to think of Matilda, who had once been Jane's own nurse, reading it to little Emily. It contained nothing of the battle ahead or any final, "if I do not return" sentiments; Jane refused to entertain such thoughts.

The wax had barely hardened when Lenton's runner knocked at her door, informing her that the admiral had returned and was bidding her attendance in the wardroom. She entered less than five minutes later to find Lenton among the other dragon's captains and first lieutenants, including Markham, her own.

"Roland," Lenton said, "glad you're here." She nodded, acknowledging, unspoken, his shared disdain at her exclusion from the briefing aboard the flagship. She handed her letter to James as she passed, and he nodded and placed it in his courier satchel. She murmured her thanks before acknowledging Markham with a nod as he joined her. The captains had heard most of this aboard the flagship; the lieutenants, and Jane, had not.

They had no time to speak, however. "Very well," Lenton said, calling them to order and setting immediately to business. Lenton unrolled a map of Aboukir Bay on the table before them. "Brueys has his ships in a winding line, with his flag, the _Orient_, in the center. James reports that as of yesterday, they're here." He indicated the bay, a long crescent stretching from north to south, shoaling gently from the shore. James nodded his agreement.

"Now," Lenton continued, "They have a reasonably strong defensive position. They're anchored as near to the shoal edge as they dare to prevent us from attacking on the landward side. And they have dragons to project power outward." Indeed, it seemed to Jane that from the positions indicated on the map, the French position was very strong, with land at their backs.

"But based on the drawings that James and Volly brought back, and the few charts of the Bay, the captain and first lieutenant of the _Goliath _think the water is deep enough to allow them to slip behind the line, and start taking the French ships apart, one by one. Foley -- he's _Goliath_'s captain -- thinks Brueys has his fleet strung along too great a distance, and the northerly winds will prevent the ships in the southern part of the bay from coming to assist too quickly."

"Our job will be to protect our fleet from the French dragons, obviously. If we're going to split our line of ships, we can't fly in one large formation." He turned to her. "Roland, you're to take Crescendium, Messoria and Immortalis, along with one each of the Kaziliks and Alamans. Stay with _Goliath _and the ships who follow her, and protect them, especially if they run aground, heaven help us."

"Yes, sir," she responded automatically, her voice as clear and firm as she could manage. Six dragons against who-only-knew how many on the French side, going into an uncertain tactical situation. She took a deep, slow breath, determined not to reveal her trepidation. Some of the men, no matter how accustomed to women aviators they might be, would be sure to consider it fear. And it was fear, of a sort -- she didn't fear for her own life, or even for Excidium's, but she did fear making a critical error, failing in her mission, and costing other men their lives.

Lenton merely nodded at her. "The rest of you--" he indicated the captains of the other four British dragons, along with the two remaining Turks "--will stay with me, on Nelson's side. Now, James," he said, turning to Volly's captain. "You didn't see any of those damned Fleur-de-Nuits?"

Shaking his head, James said, "No, sir, we didn't. But it was not yet dusk, and they might not have been aloft, or perhaps they were so far south we couldn't see them."

Jane blinked, despite herself -- if Lenton was asking about the night-seeing Fleurs, that meant -- "We go tonight," Lenton said. "They'll know we've arrived, but they'll expect us to wait until morning." He looked down at the map with a shake of his head, and Jane imagined there had been a rather interesting conversation between Lenton and Admiral Nelson about Foley's plan. He shook off any misgivings and glanced outside to gauge the time of day. "We should arrive in a few hours. Expect battle to be joined by sunset."

~~~~~

The British fleet's maneuvers in the Bay began with good fortune. Their sunset attack was a surprise; as Lenton had predicted, the French had expected them to wait until morning. Meanwhile, the Goliath's Captain Foley, as hoped, had ably slipped around the edge of the French fleet, exposing it to attack from both sides. The winds, too, were in their favor, blowing steadily from the north, which slowed any response from the French ships at the southern part of the Bay.

One of the next ships to try Foley's dangerous, shallow-water, maneuver, unfortunately, was not so lucky as the Goliath. The ship, bearing what Jane personally considered to be the ill-luck name _Culloden_, ran aground on the shoals. Jane signaled Crescendium to stay back, for the moment, and watch over her.

While the French ships were slow to respond to the surprise British maneuvers, the French aviators reacted much more quickly, sending out seven or eight dragons to meet the landside attack. Jane had only six, and her plan was to keep the Kazilik and its wing-dragon, the Alaman, out of sight until the Kazilik could make a direct attack on the French ships. The French, Jane had been told, were unaware of the presence of fire-breathers amidst the British complement, and she intended to keep their presence as an unpleasant surprise. Thus, with Crescendium guarding the disabled _Culloden _from aerial attack, Jane had only three dragons in her formation -- Excidium, Messoria, and Immortalis -- available to engage the French from the landward side.

Jane signaled to Messoria and Immortalis to spread out, providing as much protection as they could to the ships below, which had spared no time in beginning their attacks on the French fleet. The smell of burnt powder was already thick, and the smoke burned their eyes and hampered vision.

"Captain!" Her lookout pointed. "Enemy ahead!" Jane could see at least two heavyweights and one middleweight in their path, intent on intercepting the three British dragons.

"Markham," Jane summoned her first lieutenant to her side. "Ready all weapons." He nodded and quickly began issuing orders to the riflemen and bellmen.

~~~~~

Jane, and nearly everyone else aboard Excidium, coughed and wiped their eyes during a moment's respite, even as the crew tended to wounds and reloaded weapons. The smoke from the ships below was so thick in the air that it had become difficult to see, or to breathe. They had successfully driven off two French dragons during the past hour -- Excidium had inflicted a fairly serious acid-injury to the eyes of a Pecheur-Raye, and Jane's riflemen had killed or wounded enough of the crew of a Papillon Noir that it had been forced to withdraw.

The attacks had come fast upon each other, and she continued to hold the Turkish dragons back, waiting until she was either forced to rely on them for defense against a French fire-breather, or they could begin a direct run at the French ships. The smoke provided a boon in that sense -- it was easier to conceal the presence of the Turks.

Jane could not see either Messoria or Immortalis, and a glance at her signal-ensign produced only a helpless shrug of the shoulders. They were enshrouded by smoke, unable to see anything more than a few yards away. She could barely make out the Kazilik behind them as she turned to hear Markham's status report.

He had hardly begun when he was interrupted by the lookout. "Enemy ahead!"

The words were barely out of the boy's mouth before a Petit Chevalier came upon them. Rifle fire rang out, and two of Jane's topmen fell. Markham shouted, issuing orders, and Jane had turned to issue an order when she saw them, through a break in the smoke below. The French ships were close ahead -- Excidium had successfully passed through the enemy's aerial defenses. She turned away and coldly evaluated the Chevalier, the Kazilik's last remaining obstacle between it and the French ships.

"Excidium, slow down," she ordered. "We want to engage them for as long as we can." The dragon dipped his head in acknowledgment, and she called out the engagement order to Markham.

Fortunately the French dragon had no interest in evasion. Jane's men were doing their own damage now; Jane saw at least two of the French crew cut loose from the Chevalier's harness, dead from rifle wounds.

"'Ware boarders!" called the lookout, watching as the Chevalier came alongside them.

"Let them come," Jane said. There were still no other dragons in sight -- the Chevalier was the only thing capable of impeding the Kazilik, who remained just out of sight to Excidium's rear. The Chevalier slowed to attack, and as the riflemen fired, a squadron of French boarders leapt onto Excidium's back. Jane checked her pistol as her men engaged, ably led by Markham. Two Frenchmen quickly found themselves over the side.

"Signal the attack!" Jane called to her signal-ensign, who knew what she meant, calling to the Kazilik rather than relying on flags. Seconds later, the Kazilik and the Alaman on his wing slipped by, and Jane smiled fiercely. "There they go," she said to Excidium, watching as the Kazilik approached the French flagship.

The captain of the Chevalier realized his mistake and turned away from the pursuit, leaving the boarders behind, but it was too late -- the Kazilik had begun to strafe the _Orient_, setting her rigging and sails afire.

Excidium spared a pleased grunt, and Jane turned, patting his neck. Only two boarders were left, but one had worked his way up toward her. She pulled out her pistol and fired, hitting the man square in the chest. Grunting, he lunged forward with his sword. Jane kicked, knocking one foot out from under him. His attack would have missed, but the Frenchman's comrade appeared at his shoulder, firing his own pistol, and the ball hit Jane in the shoulder. She fell along with the sword-wielding Frenchman, and she felt the blood on her face as his blade met her face. Just before she slipped into unconsciousness, she saw the second Frenchman fall, and heard a deafening explosion.

~~~~~

Jane awoke to pain. Pain in her face, her shoulder. Her vision was blurry, and she blinked slowly as she tried to move.

"She's awake!" She recognized Markham's voice.

"What--" She tried to speak, but it came out only as a muffled groan. She touched her face, which was covered on the left side with a bandage. She was clearly in some manner of hospital. She lay back and closed her eyes again.

When she awoke, Admiral Lenton was sitting in a chair beside her bed, and Jane realized she had no idea of how long she'd been asleep. She tried to sit up, and he leaned over to assist her, then helped her to drink a little water. Her head cleared somewhat, but her face hurt, and it was difficult to speak.

"Admiral--"

"Quiet, Roland," he commanded, though his tone was softer than usual. "It's good to see you awake."

"Excidium?" she asked, ignoring his order. "Crew?"

"Excidium's fine, and will be most relieved to hear that you are conscious," he said. "You had four dead, three injured, including yourself," he answered her in his no-nonsense fashion. "You did well, Roland, very well. The destruction of the _Orient _took the fighting spirit right out of the French. They suffered enormous loss of life -- thousands of men -- and their entire fleet has been captured or burnt. It'll take years for their navy to recover."

Jane leaned back against the pillow, staring back at him. "Oh, don't take me wrong," Lenton continued. "The Navy surely did her part. But the Corps carried more than its share of the burden. Especially you," he indicated her bandaged face. "Your eye will be fine, they tell me. But I'm afraid that the sword blow you took will leave quite a scar."

She shrugged, or tried to, wincing as her shoulder moved. What did it matter? It was not as if she would be presented at court anytime soon. The corner of her lip lifted in a smile, and Lenton stared back at her, puzzled, apparently expecting her to be upset by this news. "You don't seem overly concerned by that."

It was only a mark on her face, the kind men carried with pride, an indication that they had been tested in battle and survived. Why should a scar matter? She had completed her mission, her dragon was well, Emily was safe back in England, and most of her crew had survived. Nothing else mattered.

She answered him matter-of-factly. "If you expected me to be, Admiral, perhaps you do not know me quite as well as you think."

He appeared taken aback, but after a moment his eyes lit with warm humor, and he patted her arm gently in deference to her injury. Turning to depart, he said, "Heal quickly, Roland. We need you back in the air."

Jane smiled as she lay back again, her eyes closing. He was well out of earshot, but she said softly, "Indeed you do, Admiral. Indeed you do."

~ end ~


End file.
